When it comes to ice cream, what can you think of? Sweet, icy, high fat, high calories?
American food experts plan to develop new products that add healthy ingredients to traditional ice cream and make ice cream a health food. By then, people will no longer be guilty of guilt at the same time.
New healthy ingredients
Professor Ingolf Glen, professor of food chemistry at the University of Missouri-Columbia, led colleagues to develop healthy ice cream. They plan to add probiotics, dietary fiber, antioxidants and other health-favoring ingredients to traditional ice cream.
Probiotics have been widely used in dairy products, can promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the stomach, improve intestinal function, help digestion, beauty; dietary fiber can also promote intestinal health; antioxidants can help the body cells against free radicals and prevent diseases.
The US Fun Science website quoted Glenn's words on the 10th, reporting that many diseases are caused by intestinal inflammation. Using health foods to improve intestinal health can reduce intestinal inflammation.
Glenn said that he chose to add three ingredients such as probiotics, not only because these ingredients have been proven to be beneficial to human health, but also because consumers are familiar with them.
He said people buy food for two reasons: either because they really like it or because it is good for the human body. If researchers add some unfamiliar ingredients, even if it is beneficial, consumers will generally not try it easily.
Do not replace fruits and vegetables
Food experts hope to develop healthy ice cream samples within six months and bring them to market within two years.
However, even if the ice cream is formally sold, experts do not advocate the replacement of fruits and vegetables with healthy ice cream.
Glenn said that the original intention of developing healthy ice cream is to make people no longer feel guilty of eating ice cream, because "the top of the ice cream has a bad hat and it has a high fat content."
“At that time, you can say to yourself, “I am eating high-fat ice cream, but I also take into account nutritional requirements, promote intestinal health, increase antioxidants and dietary fiber,†Glenn said.
Taste challenge
Food experts predict that the taste of healthy ice cream is quite good, but it is still inferior to traditional ice cream.
“Our main challenge is texture, taste and (consumer) psychological acceptance,†Glenn said. “Because the nutrients we add are usually bitter, it will affect the texture of ice cream.â€
He said that the dietary fiber contained in healthy ice cream will account for 10% to 15% of the daily demand of the human body. The problem to be solved is that after adding such dietary fiber, the taste of ice cream will become rough.
As for antioxidants, food experts plan to extract them from Brazilian açai. However, this fruit smells bad and needs to be covered. Glenn said that chocolate-flavored healthy ice cream is the easiest to make, because chocolate has a strong taste and can mask the taste of other ingredients.
Glenn is optimistic about the market outlook of healthy ice cream. He said that consumers may say this: "Although it is not as good as high-fat ice cream, but because it is good for health, and it tastes good, I will buy one."